A First Time For Everything
by Alison Ocean
Summary: Leo encounters his first huge thunderstorm since moving to the city. Good thing Yuiko's there for him! In honor of one of my fave anime couples. One-shot.


**This story if fluff-tastic, I know. Try to enjoy it, and remember to review! :)**

**A First Time for Everything**

Yuiko fumbled with her house keys. Her hands were shaking badly from the freezing cold, and her fingers were slick with water. All of her clothes, books, and hair had been completely soaked through with the rain. She sighed with contentment when her key turned smoothly in the lock, and she spilled into the apartment, hair flying everywhere. Thunder rolled deafeningly overhead, and Yuiko winced. _Stupid rain_. She had meant to visit Leo today after school, but had been so wet after the short walk to the bus, she'd decided to forego the trip until the weather cleared. Which, clearly, wasn't going to happen tonight. Lightning crashed overhead, as if to emphasize her point. It threw the entire living room into black and white silhouette. Yuiki was no stranger to April storms, but the ferocity of this one was a bit creepy. Shivering, she shed her raincoat, boots, and books in a nearby chair. She flicked the light switch a couple of times – no power. _Oh, no_. At least she didn't have any homework today. In socked feet she shuffled to her bedroom, grabbed her sweats, and went to the bathroom to take a long, steamy shower.

"Gah!" Yuiko screeched as she jumped out of the stream of water. It had been 5 agonizing minutes washing her hair, and she wasn't even going to bother shaving her legs tonight. For some reason (probably _something _to do with the weather) the water heater wasn't working! Yuiko could think of icy ponds that had felt warmer than that shower. Teeth chattering, shaking even harder than before, Yuiko quickly dried off, donned her sweats, and raced to her room. Halfway there, she skidded to a stop at the kitchen. She grabbed a bowl of leftover sticky rice, half a box of pocky, some cold barbecued pork, and a napkin. _Yum_, she thought to herself as she dug in. Lightning crashed dangerously close to the windows, making her inhale a rice ball. Yuiko hacked over that for about 5 minutes. The lightning simply crashed again, stunning her irises and mocking her. Quickly she cleaned up her food and went to her room for good, closing the door tightly.

Once safe in her room, Yuiko read a little, surfed the internet, and tried everything she could think of to distract herself as the minutes ticked closer to bedtime. Her parents usually both worked late, so it wasn't uncommon for her to spend restless evenings such as this alone. The boredom was bearable – her longing to be with Leo was not so easily ignored. It wasn't that her other friends didn't measure up to him, but when she felt most alone, he was the first person she wanted to see. He always had a way of making her smile. It was probably due to his more animalistic tendencies – loyalty, playfulness, sweetness. All this and more attracted her to him like a moth to a flame. And lately, when that beautiful, shining flame was absent from her life, for however short a time, she found herself missing him hopelessly.

"Argh." She growled as she burrowed into her blankets. _This is pathetic. I mean, I know he's my boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I need to miss him all the time! I'll see him tomorrow! No big deal._

Somehow, the ache in her chest didn't seem to be following the logic. Dissatisfied with herself, but too tired to think about it more, Yuiko snuggled in and drifted off to sleep.

"Yuiko."

_Mmmmmm…. _

"Yuiko…"

_Yes, I do like ice cream…_

"Yuiko?" Something nudged her shoulder.

"H-huh…?" Yuiko groggily jerked her head off the pillow. Her room was pitch-black, and silent except for the sounds of the wind howling outside and the rain hitting her window. Lightning crackled outside, illuminating her bedroom for a split-second. A pair of almond-shaped, onyx eyes stared at her from a pale face.

"Ahhhh!" Yuiko screamed. She leapt off of her bed and ran to her door before the creature stopped her with a firm embrace from behind.  
"Yuiko! Yuiko, it's me! Leo!"

Yuiko immediately stopped struggling.

"_Leo?_" She whispered in astonishment. She turned in his arms and ran her fingers searchingly over his face.

"Oh, wow. It _is _you! You scared the crap out of me! Wait – _what are you doing in my house_?"

She felt him shrug.

"I just came in – the door wasn't locked at all."

Yuiko smacked her forehead with her palm. _Stupid, stupid, stupid._

"Um…Yuiko?" his voice rose to an uncomfortable pitch.

"Yes, Leo?"

"Would…would you mind if I…"

Right then thunder boomed so loudly that Yuiko heard the glass shaking in the picture frames hung on the walls. Leo let out a surprised yelp, and his arms disappeared from around her. In the lightning that flashed following the thunder, Yuiko glimpsed him by the window, crouched, with his head buried in his arms and his body wedged as far into the corner of her room as could be managed. He was shaking.

"Leo! Leo, what's wrong?" She felt for him in the dark and her hands eventually found his back, sheathed in a soft, long-sleeved cotton t-shirt. She rubbed it soothingly.

"I…" he breathed shakily, "I've never been very good with thunderstorms." He said the words in a rush, as if embarrassed. Thunder shook the walls again. This time, Leo flinched away from the wall like someone had shocked him before scampering across the room on all fours and slamming into the dresser in the dark. Yuiko heard him grunt as she tried to make him out in the blackness. She had never seen him act so much like an animal before, except when he saw blood and lost control. At that thought, Yuiko crawled over to him in the dark.

"Leo, are you ok? Are you bleeding anywhere?" _Please don't be…_

"No." He whispered, again sounding completely embarrassed in himself.

"Yuiko, could I…could I please stay here tonight?" he whispered. Yuiko was taken aback by his question. Instead of answering immediately, she reached out with tentative hands to feel his body posture in the dark. He was crouched against her dresser, which wasn't completely uncommon. When there wasn't a chair to sit on, Leo tended to prefer crouching on the ground. But his posture was stiff like that of a feral cat, and Yuiko could feel the goose bumps on his arms through his t-shirt. Lightning lit the room in blinding white and Leo jerked, ramming into her.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He whispered as soon as he found his voice, and wrapped his arms around her. Though the embrace was the traditional man embracing a woman, Yuiko had the distinct feeling that _he_ was the one seeking safety in _her_ arms, rather than the other way around. Yuiko breathed in his musky, innocent, grass-stained scent. It smelled of love and of home, to her. She knew that she couldn't say no to him – and more than that she couldn't shut him out of her home when he was afraid and she was the first person he'd come to for comfort.

"Shhh, it's alright." Yuiko reached up to stroke Leo's spiky black hair from the crown of his head to the nape of his neck, and felt him shiver.

"Good boy…" she crooned, as she had when she'd first witnessed him losing control. His head had been bleeding, and at the sickly sweet scent of the blood he'd become a raging animal, ready to lash out at anything that moved. She had barely managed to tackle him to the ground and clamp her arm over his snapping mouth before he'd done any damage, to himself or others. But never once had she feared him – or hated him. He was the sweetest, most trustful person she'd ever known, and no service she ever gave him would amount to such a gift.

"Good boy…" After stroking his head and back for a few moments, Yuiko felt Leo relax in her arms. She leaned against the dresser and held him as his breathing slowed to match hers perfectly. His arms went limp around her, but she couldn't see his face to know if he'd fallen asleep. His weight was perfectly balanced against her, so that it was nothing to hold him as he'd held her often when she was alone or afraid. The soft pattering of the rain on her windowsill soothed her like a lullaby sung in a foreign language.

"Hey, Leo?" Yuiko whispered, testing the waters.

"Yes?" his voice sounded sleepy. Yuiko grinned hugely in the dark, ridiculously proud of herself for calming him down.

"I thought you grew up in the jungle somewhere in southern Japan. Don't they have a lot of thunderstorms there, too?" She felt his back muscles clench a little, and regretted the question.

"Yes. But…I've never lived in a home that had such large windows, or was high up off the ground like the apartments here." He let out a shaky breath.

"When the building sways in the wind, and I see the lightning almost touching the windows, or hear the thunder…it's just much, _much_ worse than it was growing up."

He yawned suddenly. "But you always make me feel safer, Yuiko. You're like my good luck charm."

Yuiko smiled again, before shifting behind him.

"Hey, this good luck charm is a little tired. Maybe we–"

"Oh, sorry." Leo interrupted, realizing what she wanted. He raised himself up off the floor and then offered Yuiko a hand, which she gladly took. Once they were both standing, Leo gave her a bone-crushing hug.  
"Thanks, Yuiko." He whispered. "I can probably go now."

Just then, thunder rumbled in the distance and the room lit up again with white. Yuiko saw Leo's face drain of color as he stared at the window.

"Come on." Yuiko sighed, grabbing his hand. She wasn't about to make him walk home looking like _that_. She dragged him over to her bed, and shoved the blankets aside until there was a space for him against the wall.

"Here" she said, and pushed him down forcefully on the mattress.

"No, Yuiko, I couldn't sleep in your bed!" Leo protested.

"Hey, it's no problem! And I'm not making you leave until you're not scared anymore. I _promise_." When he continued to look away from her, she caught his chin in her hand. "Got it?"

He met her eyes. His dark pupils were barely discernible in the dark, but she could see a glimmer of light reflected in them.

"Got it." He whispered back. "Um…you're going to make me leave?" He sounded troubled.

"You bet." She replied, all business, before pulling the blankets up over them both. "But for now, try to get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

Yuiko scooted herself as close to the edge of the bed as she could, leaving almost a foot of space between their bodies. She wasn't looking for anything inappropriate here – she cringed at the thought of her parents asleep in their bedroom just down the hall, oblivious to her nighttime visitor. That is, if they were even home.

Her back was to Leo, and she began slowing down her breathing and relaxing for sleep. The bass of thunder ground out a rhythm beneath lightning's shattering timpani outside, and before she knew it Leo had shoved up against her back and was nearly pushing her off the bed.

"Leo!" she squirmed around to face him and grabbed his shoulders to keep herself from falling.

"Sorry!" he whimpered and shivered. Yuiko sighed. It looked like she was going to have to start all over again with the comforting process.

"Leo, could you move back a little bit? You're squishing me."

He slid back against the wall obediently, but Yuiko could hear his breaths coming fast and shallow. She carefully wrapped one arm around his shoulders, while the other reached up and began stroking his head again. He seemed more determined than ever to stay tense and ready for a fight, but Yuiko continued her efforts determinedly. After fifty or so strokes, Leo dropped his head heavily on to her shoulder. Yuiko couldn't help but smile again at her success.

"Good boy." She whispered. His warm breath washed over the skin of her clavicles. She cuddled him closer, enjoying the feeling. Her hand became heavier and heavier until she gave up stroking and instead rested it on his forearm. She'd just begun to drift off when he spoke.

"Yuiko?"

"Hmmm….yeah?"

"I don't think I'm scared anymore."

Leo rested his right arm over her waist protectively and Yuiko snuggled into his warmth.

"That's great, Leo. Now I can kick you out."

Leo snorted at that, and Yuiko fell asleep with a smile on her face.


End file.
